Thrilled :) Haven't had ducks in years, but...

[ThistleRidgeGA]

We are getting our first two tomorrow, and we are getting another three in May. The two coming tomorrow are sisters that are eight months old. They are Buff/Orp. The three arriving in May are Cayuga ladies. We weren't expecting to get ducks so soon so our duck area we were designing isn't finished. Therefore, we set up a temporary area for them.

Along one side of our house is a roofed area with poured concrete and dog kennels (chain link.) Our dogs are inside dogs so there aren't any in it. I used the middle kennel and lined the base with 10" tall pieces of 1" thick cabinet-grade wood (freebie wood from my work that we were tossing,) then put hardware cloth three feet up from the base of the kennel as well as created a frame/hardware cloth "cover" to put in front of the door for predator protection. The top, although there is a roof above, is also covered with a tarp to help thwart any predators.

We put some straw and hay down as bedding, have two "houses" for them, and there is a drinking water area as well as a bathing area.

When they're not in their kennel/cage set-up, they (when we're home and outside) can be let out into the aisle (blocked with 5' no climb fencing) and walked to a 60 ft by 60 ft free-range area with 5' no climb fencing as well as another pool Hope they like their new/temporary digs!

They are "city ducks" whose neighbors complained about their quacking so they will be living as Queens on our farm in the country.

I will definitely post photos tomorrow!

 

[marvun22]

if you don't remember this about ducks their drinking water is their playing water. their bathing water is their playing water. any water is their playing water. i have 3 ducks right now and ill be getting 10 more in april.

 

[ThistleRidgeGA]

The differentiation between the two "water areas" is one is deeper than the other

 

[marvun22]

ducks are quite extraordinary creatures. for me ducks are funny but sometimes i feel sorry because my chickens and cats dont get any clean water.

 

[Amiga]

Hooray for adoption!!!!

My inner paranoid over-protective duck mom is worried about the tarp as predator defense. Could you tell me more so I'll relax? Sheesh, sometimes I have few boundaries. Couldja humor me this time?

See, something that happened in my town is that someone had plastic poultry fence across the top of an eight foot high chain link fence and the raccoons crawled up, ripped open the top fence and destroyed a family of ducks. So I am kinda sensitive about fencing and such.

I am still thrilled that you are taking them in and it sounds like you know what you're doing.

 

[ThistleRidgeGA]

Well...on top of the [chain-link with wood and hardware cloth] kennels is chain link "roof/cover"...then a tarp over that....then a metal roof. Ergo...additional predator defense (snakes>eggs) = tarp

 

[Amiga]

Whew.

I kinda reckoned you had it covered - literally - thanks for your patience.

Now I can just be unbridled delighted!!!!

You can see from my signature I encourage people to take in adult ducks who need a home.

Thanks!!!!

 

[ThistleRidgeGA]

Well we had a delay last week with our girls coming to our farm. The owner told her kids the night before that the ducks were leaving to live on a farm, and the kids broke down.

The ladies will be here this Friday

 

[ThistleRidgeGA]

The lovely ladies arrived last Friday. We left them alone to adjust to their new home in their pen for the first two days. We only changed their water for them and fed them. Otherwise, we wanted them to be able to see the sights and hear the sounds around the farm. They adjusted rather quickly. Both girls laid their first eggs the following morning They were thrilled on Sunday to be able to explore their 60 ft. x 60 ft. yard and were waddling around, talking, splashing in their 40 gal water trough, digging for bugs.

Their previous owner told us that they were difficult to put up at night. It took me maybe two minutes to get them up in their pen on Sunday night. I just walked behind them, slowly, and they waddled right back into their pen, ate some food, and hung out in their kiddie pool in their pen.

Funny enough, my husband called them "YOUR ducks" when talking to me, but he enjoys them just as much as I do

We renamed them Mabel and Millie.



You can't tell in the above photo, but on the other side of the wooden lattice is hardware cloth (metal) 30" up the side. The bottom 12" of the pen has heavy duty cabinet-grade wood. So the sides go...concrete floor and inside out...lattice, wood, chainlink, hardware cloth. The top has the chainlink and tarp and then metal roof.



The fencing is 60" no climb fencing that is buried 12" underground. They are only allowed outside in their yard during the day when we are outside with them.